One of the most popular romances to circulate in Europe, Sir Bevis of Hampton stands out for its many depictions of Saracen characters and settings. In narrating the exploits of an English hero, it repeatedly situates him, and develops his identity, in relation to the world in which he lives after having been sold to Saracens. Saracens raise Bevis, knight him and arm him; they communicate his universal desirability as son, lover and warrior; they serve under him and help him to reclaim his heritage and avenge his father’s murder; they also afford Bevis opportunities to manifest his exemplary Christianity. In short, Saracens define Bevis's status as a heroic Christian knight. This is not to say, however, that the notion of what it means to be a Christian knight remains static across the centuries of the text's circulation. In fact, while the broad outlines of Bevis's encounters with Saracens generally stay the same, specific details vary in different versions of the romance. This article examines how some of Bevis's engagements with Saracens are variously represented in versions of the romance that circulated in England between the thirteenth and the sixteenth century. Specifically, this paper considers the Anglo-Norman Boeve de Haumtone, the fourteenth-century Middle English version (hereafter A) found in Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland, MS Advocates’ 19.2.1 (the Auchinleck MS), the fifteenth-century version (hereafter C) found in Cambridge, University Library, Ff.2.38, and the version (hereafter P) represented by the sixteenth-century printed editions of the romance and by parts of Manchester, Chetham's Library, MS 8009. While these texts depict many of the same encounters between Bevis and Saracens, they use these cross-cultural encounters to offer subtly different definitions of what it means to be a heroic Christian knight.

Since other chapters in this collection discuss the encounters between Bevis and Josian, and those between Bevis and Ascopard, I shall concentrate here on Bevis's experiences with Saracens while in the service of the Saracen King Ermin. These encounters constitute a significant portion of the narrative and offer an extensive portrait of Bevis's conduct as a Christian hero living in a Saracen political world.

Bevis's first substantial encounter with a Saracen occurs early in the tale when Bevis is sold as a child to Ermin, ruler of Armenia, and Ermin enquires about Bevis's origins.